A smooth sheet with a gentle, low-glare sheen — the happy medium between gloss and matt. Rich colour that's still easy on the eye and easy to read.
A shiny, reflective coating that makes colours punch and photos look razor-sharp. The most vivid of the three — just watch for glare on heavy text.
No coating, no shine — just a tactile, matt surface that feels lovely and writes beautifully. True-to-life colour, though darks & photos look a touch softer than on screen.
You want rich, accurate colour with a soft sheen — not full gloss glare.
You love a natural, non-shiny, tactile sheet that lets the work speak.
You want that warm, cream, easy-to-read book paper readers expect.
You're after an eco, textured, off-white sheet with real character.
| Weight | Feels like | Use it for |
|---|---|---|
| 90–130gsm | Thin, flexible — like a magazine page | Inside pages of books, zines, magazines & booklets |
| 150–170gsm | Sturdier — like a quality flyer | Heavier inside pages, lighter covers, posters & catalogues |
| 250–350gsm | Firm card — like a premium business card | Covers, postcards, invitations & greetings cards |
| 400gsm | Thick, rigid board | Chunky postcards & creative business cards (too thick to bind into a book) |
Rule of thumb: thicker paper feels more premium and stops ink showing through on double-sided pages.
The full guide to choosing GSM →Drop a subtle shade into the background of your cover artwork so it visually resembles a warmer, off-white paper — then we print it crisp and full-colour on bright white house stock.
⬇ Download off-white paper texturesSame trick: drop one of our high-res kraft textures into your cover background to fake that grainy, brown-paper aesthetic — without the washed-out colours or the doubled bill.
⬇ Download kraft paper texturesPop the texture on the very back layer of your cover, design over the top, and send it as normal. Handy little hack 🙂
All three house stocks are responsibly sourced as standard.
A clean white base that gives you the truest, punchiest colour.
Every finish runs from delicate inside pages to chunky 400gsm.
We buy these in bulk and hand the savings straight to you.
Don't gamble on a screen. We'll send you a free sample pack — next-day — so you can see and feel every paper before you commit.
Screens glow; paper reflects. Here's how to set expectations.
The final check before we go to press.
Silk, gloss, uncoated & recycled in depth.
The right stock for self-published zines.
Stocks that suit inking & flat colour.
Cover & inside-page combinations that work.
Durable, bright stocks for little hands.
Getting fine-art reproduction right.
Specs & advice for zine-making illustrators.
Silk. It's the all-rounder — rich colour without gloss glare, and comfortable to read. For most books, magazines and mixed photo/text projects, silk is the sheet that rarely disappoints. Order a sample pack and you'll feel why.
We strongly steer you away from it — printing onto coloured or kraft stock washes out your artwork and at least doubles the cost. Instead, use our free texture hack: drop a kraft or off-white paper image into your cover background so it looks like coloured stock, then we print it crisp on bright white. See the hack section above for the downloads.
Silk is the paper finish itself. Lamination is a separate plastic film we can apply to a cover on top of any paper for extra protection and a specific feel (matt, gloss or soft-touch). You can have a matt-laminated cover on a silk sheet — they do different jobs. Ask us and we'll explain for your project.
Lessebo Vanilla. It's a soft, warm, cream uncoated sheet with that classic novel feel — easy on the eye for long reads and ideal for poetry and fiction. Evolution Uncoated is a more textured, recycled off-white alternative, though it mutes images more.
A little awareness helps. Screens emit light so colours glow; paper reflects light so they're calmer — uncoated and recycled stocks especially soften images. If colour accuracy is critical, choose a bright-white silk or gloss, design in CMYK where you can, and order a sample (or a single proof copy) first.
Order our free sample pack — it arrives next day, with every house paper and weight printed with a test alphabet so you can judge colour and feel. There's no minimum order either, so you can also print a single proof copy of your actual project before committing to the full run.
